Data storage devices are used to access digital data in a fast and efficient manner. At a user level, data are often structured in terms of variable length files, which can be constituted from one or more fixed-sized logical blocks (such as logical blocks which are addressed using logical block addresses (LBAs)).
To store or retrieve user data with an associated data storage device, host commands are generally issued to the device using a logical block convention. The device links LBAs associated with host write commands to physical locations or blocks of media on which the data are to be stored. The device may also utilize logical to physical translation methods to locate logical blocks in an optimal physical location from which the data are to be retrieved.
When the data storage device is characterized as a disc drive, a controller may be used to execute a seek command to move a data transducer adjacent a rotating recording disc and carry out the data transfer operation with the associated physical block(s). Other types of data storage devices (for example, solid state data storage devices that have no moving parts) generally carry out other types of access operations to transfer the associated data.
With continued demands for data storage devices with ever higher data storage and data transfer capabilities, there remains a continual need for improvements in a manner in which storage of data associated with logical blocks is managed within the data storage device. It is to these and other improvements that the present embodiments are generally directed.